Socio-Demographic Variables Predicting Formal vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Handling and Associated Outcomes

This analysis compares and contrasts first-time juvenile offenders enrolled in a community-based balanced and restorative justice program whose cases were processed either informally or formally. The study examines contributors to both levels of processing and re-offending. This study examines how family characteristics are associated specifically with level of processing, which are unique attributes compared with juvenile justice studies in the literature. Multivariate predictors of formal levels of processing were age, gender, race, type of offense, marital status of biological parents, and the number of children in the home. Analyses also found that almost twice as many youth who were formally processed were recidivists at 1 year as compared to youth who were informally processed. No significant difference was found in regards to rates of recidivism at 3 years.